Though not home to record-breakers, bass fishing in Utah still rewarding | Outdoors

Living in a Rocky Mountain state, it can be hard to believe the fish species anglers spend the most days pursuing are largemouth and smallmouth bass. Nationwide, more than twice as many days are spent casting lures to bass than all the trout species combined.

Bass are native to the eastern portion of the country. Largemouth evolved in warmer water temperatures and were historically found from Texas to Florida then north to the Canadian boarder. Smallmouth bass prefer cool clearer waters and had almost the same native range as largemouth bass but didn’t include the southern tier of states. Angler infatuation with these fish means that with translocation they can now be found in every state but Alaska, as well as other countries around the world. One reason so many anglers spend time pursuing these fish is they now live in nearly every pond, lake and reservoir in the continental United States. This is not true of trout.

Bass anglers initiated the…